Connecting Community Providers, School Nurses and Parents to a School Based Screening EMR

Purpose:
Healthe Kids proactively identifies children with unidentified health issues as well as children who were unable to access basic healthcare services. HK created a replicable community well-child screening model that increases the identification and resolution of preventable healthcare issues.

Significance:
Healthier children in schools allows for the child to be in school more hours increasing education time and allowing them to be successful learners. Identifying health issues early, reduces healthcare and insurance costs by catching health issues before they require more costly medical treatment.

Strategy and Implementation:
Healthe Kids provides age-appropriate well-child screenings conducted by qualified, licensed healthcare professionals in non-traditional healthcare settings. Screening results, along with any other health information provided by the child's legal guardian are documented in a secure, Internet accessible Helathe Record (HR). The Healthe Record is web-based and is both HIPAA and FERPA compliant. It provides a patient-centric, longitudinal record of information. With appropriate permissions, the child's healthcare team can access the HR using a unique username and password to make more informed decisions at the point of care. A child with health issues identified through a Healthe Kids screening is referred back to their primary care physician for appropriate follow-up care. Children and their parents who do not have access to the resources required to address the identified health issues, and who meet specific income guidelines, can seek assistance through the First Hand Foundation.

Evaluation:
Reduced unidentified health issues: A drop in vision referrals from 46% to 27% since inception and a drop in hearing referrals from 27% to 7% since inception. The completed referral rate has grown to 84%. As HK expands comparisons will help generate recommendations for overall health improvement.

Implications for Practice:
Healthe Kids shows the need for a community health record that is accessible to all healthcare providers including the school nurse. Through successful referral completion documentation there is an improvement in children's health and education.